weald

From Middle English weeld, wæld, (also wold, wald > English wold), from (West Saxon dialect) Old English weald, from Proto-West Germanic *walþu, from Proto-Germanic *walþuz.

Compare German Wald, Dutch woud. See also wold, ultimately of the same origin. Largely displaced by forest.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wiːld/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /wild/
• Rhymes: -iːld
• Homophones: wealed, wheeled, wield

weald (plural wealds)

1. (archaic) A forest or wood.
2. (archaic) An open country.
   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Guinevere”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 231:

     [S]he to Almesbury / Fled all night long by glimmering waste and weald, / And heard the Spirits of the waste and weald / Moan as she fled, or thought she heard them moan: […]

In modern usage, the term is seldom used, but is retained in place names, for example The Weald, Wealdstone, Harrow Weald.

• wold
• wald

• Wadle, dwale, lawed, waled

• wald

• IPA^(key): /wæ͜ɑld/, [wæ͜ɑɫd]

From Proto-West Germanic *walþu.

weald m

2. forest

   Synonyms: fyrhþ, holt, trēow, wudu

A u-stem dative singular form, wealda, is also attested.

• Middle English: wold, wald, walde, weld, welde, wolde, woolde, wæld (Early Middle English)
  • English: wold, weald, wald
  • Scots: wald

From Proto-West Germanic *wald, Proto-Germanic *waldą, whence also Old High German walt, Old Norse vald (Danish vold).

weald n

2. power
3. authority

• ġeweald
• wealdan
• wieldan

• Middle English: wald
  • English: wald
  • Scots: wald, wauld

From Proto-West Germanic *wald, from Proto-Germanic *waldaz.

weald

2. powerful, mighty
3. reigning, ruling, having authority